Infineon is taking over International Rectifier

[Ribster]

So apparently Infineon is buying IR.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/infineon-to-buy-international-rectifier-for-3-billion-1408552155
Looks like the chip market is shrinking!

[tszaboo]

I cannot express how disappointed, annoyed I am. IRF is a professional manufacturer with excellent product, which is bought by a company, who sells crap.  I really hope they start by eliminating IRFs MOSFET business (because that is overlapping with theirs), screwing up half of my designs.

[Ribster]

Yes, IRF is very well known and have great products.
Here is the press release: http://www.infineon.com/cms/en/corporate/press/news/releases/2014/INFXX201408-056.html

...Integration complements Infineon’s expertise in power semiconductors and adds system know-how in power conversion, while expanding its expertise in compound semiconductors (Gallium Nitride on Silicon) and driving greater economies of scale in production....

...Infineon’s and International Rectifier’s product portfolios are highly complementary. International Rectifier’s expertise in low-power, energy-efficient IGBTs and Intelligent Power Modules, Power MOSFETs and Digital Power Management ICs will integrate well with Infineon’s offering in power devices and modules....

We'll have to see what they will keep and will discard..

[luky315]

This is very bad news.
I talked with an Infineon employee and they fear that a big "cost reduction" plan (=layoffs) is coming soon.

[con-f-use]

Infineon management still has the old Siemens mentally instilled in them. Basically every one in their upper management is detached from reality. They will re-organise the entire company blindly, just for the sake of having done something, rather than looking for the specific problems and solving them individually. Because looking for problems means there are specific problems. And there being specific problems means, management has done something wrong. Management can't be wrong, never.

That's how Siemens lost their mobile phone branch:

1. See something is wrong (other companies have a few features more in their phones),
2. Do nothing about that
3. Reorganize (cut personal, buy a few random companies, spin-off a few departments, do massive outsourcing and create marketing buzz)
4. Loose money in the process - surprise! Step 4 wasn't for free and some of the employees were needed.
5. Repeat from 1.) until bankruptcy
(Or a couple of coup d'états resulting in a competent but even shittier CEO)

And it's the same thing with Infineon to a lesser degree. They were spun-off as part of a reorganization that was only necessary in the first place because mobile phones and other branches of the company were struggling and money was needed. Nothing has changed since then.

[PE1RKI]

nice to read that i am not the only one that thinks infineon sells crap, i tried some of there stuff and it died with the slightest mishandling.

[daqq]

Oh fudge!

Looking at all sorts of acquisitions of semi companies over the past few years I wonder if we'll ever end up with a situation where 2-3 gargantuan companies gobbled up everyone else. I hope not...

[Ribster]

Oh fudge!

Looking at all sorts of acquisitions of semi companies over the past few years I wonder if we'll ever end up with a situation where 2-3 gargantuan companies gobbled up everyone else. I hope not...

A bigger company doesn't necessarily mean that it's worse, right?

[Artlav]

A bigger company doesn't necessarily mean that it's worse, right?

The bigger the company, the bigger the bureaucracy.

To put it in technical terms, terminal values can (and will) get lost behind the compulsion of managers to maximize whatever minute instrumental values they can see.

[babysitter]

That is like McDonalds buying BurgerKing... A McDonalds changing its range of products every full moon, and its personnel every year, maybe. 

[Ribster]

A bigger company doesn't necessarily mean that it's worse, right?

The bigger the company, the bigger the bureaucracy.

To put it in technical terms, terminal values can (and will) get lost behind the compulsion of managers to maximize whatever minute instrumental values they can see.

Yes i knew that you where going to say that about bureaucracy, but a big company has it's advantages too, right?
Isn't this a global trend, that there are fewer companies, bigger companies and thus fewer diversification..
If they merge their products, i assume they can place bigger orders, what means sharper pricing points. No ?

That is like McDonalds buying BurgerKing... A McDonalds changing its range of products every full moon, and its personnel every year, maybe. 

But once in a while i like a new burger 

[Phaedrus]

A bigger company doesn't necessarily mean that it's worse, right?

The bigger the company, the bigger the bureaucracy.

To put it in technical terms, terminal values can (and will) get lost behind the compulsion of managers to maximize whatever minute instrumental values they can see.

Yes i knew that you where going to say that about bureaucracy, but a big company has it's advantages too, right?
Isn't this a global trend, that there are fewer companies, bigger companies and thus fewer diversification..
If they merge their products, i assume they can place bigger orders, what means sharper pricing points. No ?

That is like McDonalds buying BurgerKing... A McDonalds changing its range of products every full moon, and its personnel every year, maybe. 

But once in a while i like a new burger 

Until they meet up with their competitors over lunch and lay down a "market-friendly pricing strategy" where the savings goes straight to their profit margin without being whittled down by any pesky competition. They'll get caught in 15 years and pay a $50 million fine while laughing all the way to the bank with billions in profit.


The more competitors you have, the harder it is to collude on pricing.

[M. András]

what the hell was smoking that day the international's board of directors? wondering how much of the uniq etc stuffs from international will be gone after a short time

[tszaboo]

what the hell was smoking that day the international's board of directors? wondering how much of the uniq etc stuffs from international will be gone after a short time

Infineon payed 50% extra above the current share price. It wasnt this high since 2007. I wonder what did they do badly that year.

It looks like they had some open letter sword fight with Vishay in 2008 it is kinda funny to see the press releases. Like every week writing nasty stuff... The proposal was for 21 USD.

http://www.irf.com/pressroom/pressreleases/nr070409.html By the looks of it they have "problems with accounting" also. Two months later the whole C level management was fired. A few moths later again. So... Great managing over there.

[senso]

And all those nice mosfet drivers will be NRND in time for Xmas..

[Ribster]

And all those nice mosfet drivers will be NRND in time for Xmas..

Get ready to create you own personal stock then

[David Hess]

I cannot express how disappointed, annoyed I am. IRF is a professional manufacturer with excellent product, which is bought by a company, who sells crap.  I really hope they start by eliminating IRFs MOSFET business (because that is overlapping with theirs), screwing up half of my designs.

My understand is that IRF has increasingly outsourced production to external semiconductor foundries (maybe even including Infineon) because of problems handing surges in demand.  My own experience in the past with them has been one of consistently poor parts availability so I have tried to avoid their solely sourced products.

I believe their MOSFET lines suffer little overlap with Infineon's because IRF specialized in a lower voltage range.

[dannyf]

IRF and Fairchild are in the same boat: tired product lines.

This is a business where if you don't innovate, you die.

Fairchild is really what's left of a highly innovative company.

[tszaboo]

IRF and Fairchild are in the same boat: tired product lines.

This is a business where if you don't innovate, you die.

Fairchild is really what's left of a highly innovative company.

They have basically the lowest Rds for the low voltage mosfets. That is what the entire consumer electronics want. Pop up a recent high end video card, you will find two dozen of it's directfet mosfet.
The second source for theese metal can packages was infineon, well, not anymore.
They also have the typical MOSFET+driver configuration, so called PowIRstage, which has it's peak effitienty at 20A, compared to the typical DrMOS 8-10A.
Sure, they are not making the "cool"technologies with LEDs, Arduinos, and ARMs, they "only" have power converters.

[Gribo]

And now Peregrine got bought. At least Linear and Fairchild are still independent...

[David Hess]

And now Peregrine got bought. At least Linear and Fairchild are still independent...

Aren't Maxim and Analog Devices still independent?

I keep hoping that Linear Systems will pick up some of the slack for high performance analog but it seems unlikely.

I wonder how long it will be before TI buys up another analog company.  They have been busy erasing all evidence that National even existed like they did with Burr-Brown so it is becoming difficult to find old National application notes.  It was a bad idea for them (National) not to include credit to the authors like Linear Technology does.

[Gribo]

I don't mind when a decent company gobbles up a small player, usually it means better availability, support and prices (Example: TI buying Chipcon and still maintaining the CC product line). However, Infineon jumps from one area to another, dropping product lines along the way, this doesn't inspire confidence at all.

[David Hess]

I don't mind when a decent company gobbles up a small player, usually it means better availability, support and prices (Example: TI buying Chipcon and still maintaining the CC product line). However, Infineon jumps from one area to another, dropping product lines along the way, this doesn't inspire confidence at all.

Most of the time where I notice it, it is because the old products are *less* available having been discontinued but I guess that just means the acquiring company was not decent.  Burr-Brown's high power operational amplifiers vanished pretty quickly as well as their customer service.  National is following the same pattern after being acquired by TI and I pretty much wrote them off upon hearing the news.

Vishay did the same thing with the various discrete manufacturers they purchased.  This would not be so bad if it was easier to get parts out of Linear Systems.

I think I mentioned earlier than I have tried to avoid IRF's products for a long time because of continuing availability issues so if their products are discontinued, I will not consider it a big loss.  I have never dealt with Infineon.

[M. András]

I don't mind when a decent company gobbles up a small player, usually it means better availability, support and prices (Example: TI buying Chipcon and still maintaining the CC product line). However, Infineon jumps from one area to another, dropping product lines along the way, this doesn't inspire confidence at all.

Most of the time where I notice it, it is because the old products are *less* available having been discontinued but I guess that just means the acquiring company was not decent.  Burr-Brown's high power operational amplifiers vanished pretty quickly as well as their customer service.  National is following the same pattern after being acquired by TI and I pretty much wrote them off upon hearing the news.

Vishay did the same thing with the various discrete manufacturers they purchased.  This would not be so bad if it was easier to get parts out of Linear Systems.

I think I mentioned earlier than I have tried to avoid IRF's products for a long time because of continuing availability issues so if their products are discontinued, I will not consider it a big loss.  I have never dealt with Infineon.

 there was a superior device over the opa549? or that was their highest power one that still remains?